My answer:
Here in Australia we are so lucky to have lots of digitized newspapers where we can actually see what our ancestors posted on their social media of the day. My parents always used to check the hatch, match and dispatch as they called the births, marriages and deaths columns of the local paper. But nowadays less and less of these records are now found in the papers.
But my ancestors also had their divorces reported in the paper. If they were caught up in a court appearance, what they said was reported word for word. If they bought or sold land, it would often appear in the papers. Of course, after an ancestor passed there could also be an obituary telling their life story, often as they had told their children so not necessarily accurate especially if they had been a convict in the early years of our country.
Readers: What exciting news might your ancestors have posted on their social media?
Where the Misses So and Sos were holidaying, how long they’d be away and where their destination was.
My 3x great grandfather kicked his neighbour’s fence because the neighbour objected to people using the right of way between their properties. The neighbour took grandfather to court. Significant Maori chiefs and citizens and all other townspeople, including the presiding judge, used the well trodden right of way so grandfather only had to pay a nominal sum for kicking the neighbour’s fence.
The same grandfather owned pubs. He advertised that no expense was spared and he’d send a buggy to the station to collect weary travellers. If there were commuters on their own transport, there was plenty of lush grass for said transport. 🙂 Rhonda